Lawyer Network News

Saskatchewan Lawyer News

Judge to hand decision on fatal hit and run February yet

Robert Duane Barisoff will have to wait a little longer to know how much time he will be spending in jail after he submitted a guilty plea to offences resulting to Kelton Desnomie's death.

The judge had decided to reserve his decision for February after hearing sentencing submissions of both the Crown and the defence.

Court heard that Barisoff was driving a jeep when he fatally hit an intoxicated Desnomie.

He stopped and someone went down to check on Desnomie. However, Barisoff drove off without checking or assisting the victim despite the protest of his companion.

Even though he left, Barisoff still surrendered and confessed to the police on the same day.

Barisoff was not drunk nor speeding but the Crown is asking that he be jailed for about a year and be banned from driving for two years because he had left the scene without any concern for Desnomie, who was 18 at the time of his death.

Regina lawyer Jeremy Ellergodt, Barisoff's defence counsel, said that his client had panicked which was why he left but he still regretted what he did.

The lawyer added that Barisoff only deserves a three-month jail stay and a driving ban of one year citing his client's surrender and confession.

Passport cancellation for any Canadian proven to have joined extremist groups

Posted Sep 20, 2014 on ottawacitizen.com

Several Canadians have had their passports invalidated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) after it was proven that they have gone to Syria, Iraq and other volatile areas to join extremists groups.

This was confirmed by Chris Alexander, the minister for Citizenship and Immigration, who added that Canadians, who are still in the country but are proven to have intentions of travelling abroad to fight for extremist groups, will also get their passports cancelled.

The move is part of Canada and its allies' plans to hamper the international operations of extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

With a revoked passport, Canadians fighting for extremist groups will be stuck in either Syria or Iraq as they will no longer be allowed to travel back to Canada. They could also not go anywhere else without a passport.

Although Canada may not be a major source of foreign fighters for extremist groups, the Canadian government has given the concern priority, with the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service heading the matter.

The CIC, to which Passport Canada belongs, has been active in the operation by cancelling the passports but only after they received solid evidence.

Alexander said that the department can do so based on a regulation that allows an official to invalidate the passport of a Canadian if there is proof that their intention of travelling abroad is to participate in a criminal act.

A new citizenship law also gave the government authority to cancel the passports of dual citizens following a terrorism conviction.

This is well and good as aside from ensuring the country's security, the government is also making sure that Canada's name will not be tainted by the acts of these people.

Woman gets conditional sentence for fraud

Posted Sep 18, 2014 on www.leaderpost.com

A gambling problem results to a conditional sentence for Yvette M. Kew, who submitted a guilty plea to a charge of fraud over $5,000.

Kew bilked $22,464.13 from former Lang Insurance where she was tasked with taking care of the wages of employees.

The sentence, wherein instead of jail, Kew will be allowed to serve her 15 months in the community, was a joint submission by the Crown and Regina lawyer Saul Schachter which the judge approved.

Kew was also ordered to pay back the full amount she had taken.

Aside from having no previous record, Kew did not deny when her employer asked her when he noticed the missing funds.

She also cooperated with the investigation.

Man admits to abducting and attacking woman he was supposed to marry

Posted Sep 16, 2014 on www.thestarphoenix.com

Clinton McLaughlin submitted a guilty plea to charges of aggravated assault and kidnapping of Mariana Cracogna, the woman he was formerly engaged to.

A maximum of 14-year sentence looms for McLaughlin while Saskatoon defence lawyer Mike Nolin is keeping mum on the number of years that he will be seeking for his client.

His sentencing will be on November 21.

This is not the first time that McLaughlin has been charged with such a crime.

In January, he was also charged with illegally detaining another woman and assaulting her with a coat hanger.

Assault nets young woman a conditional sentence

Posted Sep 10, 2014 on www.leaderpost.com

Rebecca Ness-Saxhaug received a conditional sentence of 10 months after admitting to a common assault charge.

Ness-Saxhaug was part of four people, who went to the house of the victim to try to make him issue an apology for posts he made on the social network, Facebook.

The victim had called one of the four attackers and her daughter hookers on Facebook which prompted the attack just outside the victim's home.

To escape the attack, the victim run inside his house and got tackled by Ness-Saxhaug.

Regina criminal lawyer Corinne Maeder, defending for Ness-Saxhaug, said that her client jumped the victim to prevent him from using a bear spray as his children were also present at that time.

Canada Lawyer News

Vancouver lawyer overjoyed with decision against marijuana law

Vancouver lawyer Kirk Tousaw is very much pleased with Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan who decided that the law on marijuana is unconstitutional.

In his decision, Phelan said that not allowing medical users in getting marijuana from other than producers who are licensed is a violation of their charter rights.

Tousaw sees the decision as a milestone and a big boost for patients who are using cannabis as medication.

With the decision, the lawyer is urging Canada's Prime Minister to immediately stop criminally sanctioning patients using cannabis as a medicine, as well as those unlicensed providers.

According to Phelan, restricting the access did not lessen the risk to the patients' health nor did it make cannabis more accessible.

The judge, in his decision, called upon the Canadian government to make the marijuana law flexible so as to pave way for patients to grow their own marijuana for medical purposes.

Man who attacks several women in Terwillegar gets 12-year prison term

Posted Jan 29, 2016 on edmontonjournal.com

Mark Moriarty, who has been terrorizing women in the Terwillegar area in Edmonton, will be spending 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to a total of 17 charges, the most serious of which is sexual assault.

The 12-year sentence was closer to what Tania Holland, prosecutor for the Crown, asked which was 15 and a half years.

This was countered by Steve Fix, a criminal defence lawyer in Edmonton representing Moriarty who asked for no more than between eight to 10 years saying that his client could still redeem himself and blaming his actions to his addiction to cocaine.

Moriarty had shown remorse for his crime, however, it seems that the victims' statements had more impact collectively describing the attacks as horrible and pointing out what a manipulator Moriarty was.

The charges stemmed from attacks on eight victims, the youngest of which was a girl aged 14 years old, from 2012 to 2014.

Calgary immigration lawyer asks CBSA to be humane to client

Posted Jan 26, 2016 on www.cbc.ca

Bjorn Harsanyi, an immigration lawyer in Calgary, is asking the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) to help his client, Aida Castilla Romero, to return to her native country of Mexico by land.

Romero's work permit has expired and although she is willing to go home, she is afraid to get on a plane because she fears her lungs might collapse due to a rare disease that she has been diagnosed with.

Because of her health condition, Romero's lungs had collapsed a year after she came to Canada to work. While getting treatment, the terms of Romero's work permit ended. She was refused an extension and was denied a refugee status and eventually received a deportation order.

Cautioned by a doctor against flying as it would cause her lungs to collapse again; Romero through Harsanyi asked the CBSA to allow her to go back to Mexico by land. This, however, was denied too.

Harsanyi is appealing for the CBSA to help his client get a visa so she can travel to Mexico by land passing through the US as this is within the agency's capabilities.

There has been no word yet from the CBSA and Romero fears that she would be forced to board a plane when the deportation date arrives, least she would get arrested again which is what happened when her lawyer had informed the CBSA of her growing fears. They had deemed she would not get on her deportation flight.

Lawyers of beating death suspect want him to stay in Calgary

The 19-year-old Rider has been accused of beating to death Christa Cachene last October and he is now facing second-degree murder charges.

Williamson told Judge Jim Ogle of the provincial court that having Rider in Edmonton is making it very hard to communicate with him especially for Calgary defence lawyer Balfour Der, who is acting as the lead counsel for his defence.

The lawyer added that they would have to meet with Rider several times which is why they need him to be in Calgary.

Judge Ogle said he will make the order, although he is hesitant about doing so and he wants to know first the impact of such move from remand officers.

Calgary lawyers worried for their clients' health

Posted Jun 30, 2015 on www.huffingtonpost.ca

Calgary lawyers Shamsher Kothari and Stephen Bitzer are asking for a sentence of between eight to 10 years for their clients who have been convicted for their involvement in a Ponzi scheme considered as one of the biggest in Canada.

Kothari fears that his client, Milowe Brost, 61, might die in jail due to his poor health should he be given a longer sentence.

Bitzer, for his part, said that even a 10-year sentence is too long for his 71-year-old client, Gary Sorenson.

The lawyer added that 10 years is akin to a life sentence for Sorenson at his age.

Brost and Sorenson were convicted last February of fraud and theft while Brost was also found liable of laundering money.

The sentencing judge is expected to make a decision later as the court has yet to review about 800 requests for restitution from victims.